Nexus Prime

Where oh where do we start with this one. How about with the source? It all comes courtesy of some random dude over at 4chan, so basically take this as pure rumor and something to simply spark conversation. We wanted to share it though, because the homeboy goes into some lengthy in-depth detail of not only the Samsung “Galaxy Nexus” (aka Nexus Prime) and Ice Cream Sandwich, but he also brought up next year’s unannounced/unrumored beast, the Galaxy SIII. According to his story, Samsung reps cruised into his workplace this morning to show off the next Nexus and then also show slides of what they expect to be the 2012 edition of the Galaxy series.

Another minute, another Samsung Prime rumor to snack on. Our buddy Kyle (aka the Droid Guy) is in Las Vegas attending Verizon’s developer conference this week. While there, he bumped into a Samsung employee of some sort who happened to have an unidentified device on hand that has not been seen – publicly anyway. After talking the Sammie staffer into taking their conversation about this phone into a private area, Kyle was told that he had to remove his bag, hat and phone before they could proceed. He obliged.

So what did he see? A device that we have all come to know as the Samsung Prime. According to this report, the device looked similar to the Nexus S, but was longer and slightly thicker which could (should) mean for an LTE chip. It was not running Ice Cream Sandwich as that has not been completed yet. It had an 8MP camera on the back with a 2MP shooter on the front, similarly to the Galaxy SII series. It had NFC and MHL support along with a TI OMAP processor (which has been confirmed).

The current plan is for Samsung and Google to release this phone first on Verizon in late October or early November, followed by the rollout to other carriers shortly thereafter.

The thing we are finding odd though, is that the device apparently had a single home button similar to what we have seen on the Galaxy Note or non-US Galaxy SII devices. Would Google really take a chance on a device with a single home button that mimics the iPhone? Look at all of the trouble that Samsung has already been in for this design – please tell me this will change when this thing becomes official.

We normally try to avoid blacked out emails from readers that have to do with the release of upcoming devices, but when it comes to the Samsung Prime, it’s hard to ignore. Every little bit of info we can grab about this phone is music to our ears. Rumored to be the first device to launch with Ice Cream Sandwich, this may be the device that we have all been waiting so patiently for. The return of a legitimate stock Android device on Verizon – mmmhmmm.

The email above, which is apparently from a deep-rooted Verizon HQ employee, claims that it may not see DROID branding (something we assumed as well) (it supposed to replace the Charge though, so that’s up in the air), but may get announced right around the time that the iPhone 5 is – more than likely in October.

I will say that I’ve spoken with some of our friends who are well aware of this device. While we have yet to hear of it finding its way into the hands of a bunch of testers, we are positive that there are live units around and in the hands of select individuals at this time.

Last night a questionable document surfaced out of Best Buy that was said to be an end of 2011 timeline for Verizon’s upcoming devices. The document looked super sketchy since it had a variety of misspelled words, leading many of you to question it (as did we). Well, we just received another document from a Best Buy employee that includes similar information, but in a much clearer and correctly spelled manner. So it’s pretty obvious to us that regional Verizon reps were given a specific set of details that they were to forward on to retail stores, this one just differs slightly.

No Thunderbolt 2 (aka HTC Vigor). Doesn’t mean that the device isn’t coming by any means, but it for whatever reason did not make this rep’s list of important changes. We still have the Stratosphere as replacing the Fascinate. The Samsung Prime (actually spelled out this time) is taking over for the DROID Charge. And that’s about it.

Just wanted to pass on as a second source to back up that previous story.

OK before we start, we should make sure that everyone knows that we know that there are spelling errors like a mutha up in this leak. It could be legit, but truthfully, we have no idea. According to the source – who happens to be a Best Buy employee – this document was handed out by Verizon reps (we’re thinking regional) and describes the expected lineup for them in the near future. It includes a whole bunch of devices that have long been rumored, so there are a couple of things we should think about with this: could be someone compiling all of the stuff we have been talking about for the last month and splashing it down on paper or it could be legit and the guy just can’t type. So with that said, let’s talk about what we are seeing.

While the Stratosphere is up there as replacing the Fascinate, we are more interested in comparisons two and five lines below that. Thunderbolt 2? The Thunderbolt 2 is as many of you know, the HTC Vigor (first pictures). In a leaked roadmap back at the beginning of August, we saw then that this device would be replacing the original Thunderbolt – a device that has really only been out for 7 months. Is Verizon planning to rebrand it as the Tbolt 2 though? Interesting idea. The original Thunderbolt went by the model number ADR6400 and the Vigor is already listed as ADR6425, so it would make sense to re-use the name similarly to what was done with the Incredible and its follow-up.

What about the “Sam Prime“? That would be the Nexus Prime or DROID Prime or whatever the hell you want to call it that is expected to be one of the first Ice Cream Sandwich devices on the planet. According to this document, it will replace the DROID Charge which to be honest, makes a lot of sense. The Charge went by model number SCH-i510 and the Prime has already been outed as SCH-i515. The Charge is also in a similar predicament as the Thunderbolt in that its specs are from 1992 (yeah, exaggeration) and is in dire need of being upgraded.

No details on a release, but so far we have an October 6 date for the Vigor and a potential November time frame for the Prime. Seriously, September can’t possibly go any faster.

We have been awaiting the release of the DROID Bionic for quite some time. We have it now and soon we will deliver our full length review, which is sure to be most epic. We know some don’t care for all the hypebeastin‘, but hey, don’t you worry. We have the HTC Vigor, and the Nexus Prime supposedly just around the corner.

Only a week after a support page for the GT-19250 went live, and showed that the Nexus Prime is getting close to retail stores, now there are a few rumors floating around of what kind of specs the phone will actually have.

An anonymous tipster came to GSM Arena with a few specs about the unannounced phone. First off they said the screen would be curved just like the Nexus S and that it will only be 8.8mm thin rocking a metal chassis. The tipster confirmed the 4.65-inch screen on the phone as well. A late October launch was mentioned, which would be after the i*hone and near the time that ICS would be getting announced.

But probably the most disappointing tip that was released was that the phone might not be called the Nexus Prime after all. The tipster said that the ‘Galaxy Nexus’ would probably be more appropriate name for the device since it is coming from Samsung. Until there is an official announcement we’re going to keep using the awesome Nexus Prime logo for our stories. Sounds like we’re getting close to the end. Only a month away!

Our buddy carlz28 has finished the DROID Prime (we know that name is likely not real) boot animation that he unveiled to us last Friday. He has made some slight tweaks, but overall is just as good (if not better) than you remember. It can be flashed to almost any phone in either /system/media or /data/local with or without root. Rooted users can simply move the file using your favorite file explorer, while non-rooted users will have to use ADB. The sound file is sort of a toss up, but if you find a way to get it working, be sure to share in the comments.

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